Bit of background, I used to play AWS for quite a long time using a now removed account but I've decided to come back so I've got a decent handling on the basics but I left before cargo was fully implemented.
I'm currently just using the beginners world to throw stuff at the wall and see what works and I'd love to fly a pure cargo airline, but is it possible to start from nothing and run a pure cargo airline? Or do you have to build up a pax airline first and gradually convert to cargo?
It certainly is possible, but can be quite difficult for sure. Need to have the right balance of location, fleet and competition to pull it off successfully.
It is possible, but it's definitely harder, because RI is much more important for cargo: for 100 demand and 100 supply, you'll only get ~20% until you reach ~85 RI.
Thus, in order to start cargo only, you have to be in a place where cargo is undersupplied, and preferably use a smaller plane than the definitive one. For example, the route might be worth a DC-10F, but you'd start with a 757PF, so it fills faster, and turns a profit pretty fast, if not immediately.
The other solution is to be veeeeery careful, and patient. Keep way more cash for funding routes that are not profitable yet than with a pax airline.
Also, it is potentially better to start mid-game, for 2 reasons:
- cargo is pretty low at the beginning of long GWs, thus you don't have to wait for good figures
- you can use your built-in RI bonus very wisely, on the most juicy routes, to build up a small but very comfortable basis for your airline.
Also, try (in the beginning) to fly smaller, more frequencies, so for your next 7-D schedule you can use another occurence of an already high-RI route to fund the whole schedule. Then regroup.
However the best starting way imho is VL combis. Pax turn a profit fast (especially as you supply less capacity), so your new routes don't cost money, and when RI is finally high, you'll get huge profits. Plus, this also means smaller capacities for cargo as well. However pay extra attention to the payload/range graph, expecially now that winds/ESAD are a thing as well.
Main difference is it takes longer to ramp up to profitability, you'll lose money on your initial routes while RI climbs. If you're jumping into an existing world, getting the benefit of your first route starting at 60RI, that's less of an issue. If you're starting at the start of a new BW, you'll probably want your first couple of planes flying the start of a 7 day schedule, so RI can build on all those routes, then add the rest of the planes later once the routes are making money.
It's not too tough, as long as you don't over-expand at the start, and as long as the UM has options you can use. I did an all-cargo test airline in KEUG flying I think 732F, and then later I think I added a few jumbos. Took some time to get rolling, but was quite profitable once it did. Places like UK, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, or any bigger US city will be much easier places to start if they don't have cargo competition. Just if you start somewhere like Taiwan, remember most of the demand is inbound, not outbound. So when you do route planning you need to look at the return leg. Same goes for many of the US airports.
So it is possible then but needs some smart play.
I'm trying building a basic Network around ATR freighters, although I've not set them up on a 7 day schedule, all based out of East Midlands flying fairly small routes to Europe.
I've seen there is massive trans-Atlantic demand. Does freight work the same way as pax in that you need to fill the entire week with flights or will one or two flights a week still build demand? Just thinking about dragging RI up with a single widebody?
Freight works the same way as pax, as in one flight/week is enough to build RI.
Medium freighters can't carry heavy cargo, and heavy cargo is by far the most profitable. From that part of the UK, you have heaps of demand to both the US and to parts of Asia, both outbound and return. You're much better off finding some 757, 734, TU-204 or any other large freighter the UM has a supply of, and sticking them on 5-6 longer routes per 7 planes on a 7 day schedule. The demand is probably even there for you to start with a couple of very large planes, DC10, jumbo, etc, again depends what is cheap and plentiful on the UM. Get 2 planes, put each one on its own 7 day schedule, wait a few months for RI to grow, then you'll be able to get 12 more planes to fill the 2 x 7 days, immediately make big profits on each plane, and can then experiment as much as you want.
Good advice. Another couple of things to consider:
RI might be very important for cargo, but this is somewhat offset by how profitable you can be with really low load-factors. I'm currently starting some rather long (tech-stop) DC-873F routes, in the mid nineties when those old aircraft are very expensive to run. I find that despite this the break even load factor is somewhere around 15% (although it does depend on the ratio of light/medium/heavy). To break even on a pax-only route of this length requires somewhere more like 40% (including a little belly cargo).
When starting a new cargo airline (or any really, but especially cargo), remember that ANY money spent on marketing has the same overall effect on CI. So, rather than take the easy option of setting up a global marketing campaign right at the beginning of the game, spend ALL your marketing money on route specific campaigns for your first cargo routes. That way the money is working double - RI rises more quickly.
Does CI affect cargo in any way? Or is it all about the RI?
https://www.airwaysim.com/game/Manual/Routes/Cargo/#Transporting
QuoteAs one would imagine, cargo is much less sensitive to the flight's "quality" and other specifications compared to passengers. Cargo does not mind if it is being flown in the middle of the night or if the aircraft is a bit older. The emphasis on some other factors, like Company Image, is also lower compared to passengers. In other words cargo is most sensitive to pricing and amount of flights offered (since cargo does not like to wait).
Quote from: TheEdge on March 31, 2020, 08:29:25 PM
Does CI affect cargo in any way? Or is it all about the RI?
Even though CI is less important, if you're flying to a lot of LH destinations, which you should be doing cargo from East Midlands, it doesn't cost much to have CI of 100 anyway. In AoF I'm at 100, and my weekly marketing spend is now down to ~1.6% of revenue.
I'm a bit late to reply, but starting cargo only airline is actually easier than passegner airlines, and less skilled, given you are not starting at the beginning of a world. As stated my previous members, cargo is highly dependant on RI, luckily, the first few routes an airline makes are given free image if they are not starting at the beginning. All you need is some open demand to get started. It is honestly quite easy to find bases with open cargo demand past 1990, the UK, Germany, china are all good places to look with lots of long haul cargo demand. The US is good too but since it the largest single market in the world, there is less often open demand to be found.
I've started two cargo only airlines, one in LHR, and one in London standsted (Yes, as you can see I really like london), and have easily been-able to find routes with 100k+ unfilled cargo demand, usually to lvl 2 US airports. Germany to the US and ASIA also has many of these routes, and later on Amsterdam and paris too. Because your first routes are given free route image, any route with 100k+ demand will be immediately profitable, with usually high margins, 40-65% pretax, just the few routes which are given free image should give you enough money to freely lease new planes and open unprofitable routes with no image. Honestly, this is the LEASt patient way to play the game, within one year I have been profitable to start only buying aircraft, and after 3-4 years Im already on the top 5 leaderboard for profit. Cargo is grossly profitable.
My first cargo only airline is now #1 profit in 2000 days of operation, despite joining late and my other one is doing 3billion net postive a quarter after 650 days. All you have to do is find a few unsupplied routes, with lots of demand, and use the free route image you get to create a positive cashflow. I was not skilled or particularly smart in either of these world at all, I'm simply printing money due to the immense amount of open cargo, and right now I honestly think cargo airline are just easier than pax, there is very little competition outside the US.
I'm continuing to just throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks. No expectation of success in BW, just toying!
How easy is it to get cargo airliners off the used market in the real games, obviously only being able to convert owned aircraft is an issue at the start.
Depends on the timeframe, and on the GW. If you start a long GW in 1955, it'll mostly be doing conversions to DC6/Connies, then later to Bristols/DC8s, as well as ordering new DC8. For some reason bristol freighters aren't popular this time, I have 272 of them, and the rest of the world has 10. Though you will find things like B377f and DC4f on the UM from the start in reasonable supply, I think the game started with 800+ DC4F and 500+ B377F in existence. If you jumped into AoF now, in 1968, you'll get a reasonable supply of DC6 or Connies from the UM cheaply, though they'll be old and expensive to run. Certainly good enough to get started with though. If you jump into HatF, currently in 2007, I think you'll find plenty of 732F on the UM, maybe also 757, probably bigger planes like DC10 as well. Plus you can still order cheap 732s brand new. AG, in 1993, has heaps of a300, heaps of 742, old DC8s, lots of relatively new DC10, but not many large planes. There are over 1500 757 freighters being used, so some of them will eventually filter through.
Odds are good you'll find something reasonable to fly freight with on the UM, just need to check aircraft-->aircraft info, see what sort of supply the brokers might have, as well as looking on the UM to see what you can grab.